Monthly Archives: December 2007

Fama and French strike again

The Anatomy of Value and Growth Stock Returns Financial Analysts Journal Eugene F. Fama and Kenneth R. French November/December 2007, Vol. 63, No. 6: 44-54 (doi: 10.2469/faj.v63.n6.4926) Abstract Average returns on value and growth portfolios are broken into dividends and … Continue reading

Posted in Clippings, Finance and Investments | Leave a comment

LBO boom is going bust

From Institutional Investor: M&A – LBO = ??? 12 Nov 2007 How are the top M&A advisers positioned to survive the LBO boom’s going bust? Leveraged buyouts drove much of the mergers and acquisitions business in recent years. As the … Continue reading

Posted in Clippings, Finance and Investments | Leave a comment

Food prices and poverty

A question from Yahoo! Answers: Will higher food prices reduce poverty? It depends on two things, (1) where in the food supply chain prices increase, and (2) what the poor in question do for a living. If food prices increased … Continue reading

Posted in Answers, Economics | 2 Comments

Am I supposed to laugh or cry?

A question from Yahoo! Answers: Who were the Cheka? a) The Cheka was the German army. Russia helped defeat the Cheka during WWII. b) The Cheka was the name for the royal family of Russia. The Soviets murdered the Cheka … Continue reading

Posted in Answers, History | Leave a comment

Paul Krugman on mortgage defaults and inequality

Two unrelated posts from Paul Krugman’s blog, both with links to some interesting places. December 14, 2007, 11:04 am Why negative equity matters In today’s column I emphasized the importance of what looks like a coming avalanche of negative equity … Continue reading

Posted in Clippings, Economics | Leave a comment

The limits to growth?

A question from Yahoo! Answers: Can economy grow indefinitely? Our whole country seems to revolve around economic (or GDP) growth. Economic growth in turn ultimately depends upon utilizing/developing natural resources. Since these resources are finite, is the economy set up … Continue reading

Posted in Answers, Economics | 1 Comment

What is TEC 5?

A question asked privately: We are negotiating a contract with a foreign counterparty. The draft contract currently under consideration contains a clause whereby the interest rate is computed using a formula based on Euribor and TEC5 benchmark rates. I understand … Continue reading

Posted in Answers, Finance and Investments | Leave a comment

Qualities of a leader

A question from Yahoo! Answers (by Deepak Chopra, no less): What qualities define a great team leader? Qualities do not define a team leader; teams and their purposes do. It is extremely naive to think that leading a team of … Continue reading

Posted in Answers, Random | Leave a comment

When blogoshpere and academia meet…

…some interesting things may happen. On December 11, Brad DeLong wrote: At the final review class, the most interesting question asked me was: What is the difference between Joseph Stiglitz’s Dani Rodrik’s approaches to economic development policy and the proper … Continue reading

Posted in Clippings, Economics | Leave a comment

Creating Excel worksheets automatically

A question from Askville: How can I insert worksheets in excel and name them automatically from a list? In an excel workbook, I have a list of 36 words and I want a separate worksheet for each of them – … Continue reading

Posted in Answers, Technology | 8 Comments